Allagash Musette

Brewed by Allagash Brewing Company
Style: Scotch Ale
Portland, Maine USA

75 cL bottle. Pours hazy orange to amber with a diminished white head. Light fruity yeasty aroma, sweet and with a mild vanilla note. Quite sweet flavoured. Shows a light yeasy spice note and a mild smothing vanilla oak flavour. Ligh alcohol warming finish. To sweet for my liking although the vanilla oak smoothness suites the beer well.

March 2008 Bottle. Pours a dark amber color with a medium frothy light tan head. The aroma is a pungent caramel and sugar. Decent lacing on the glass. The taste is a smooth light malt with raisin and brown sugar. Hides the alcohol well. A very good scot ale from Allagash.

Bottle shared with HogTownHarry, blankboy, jerc, mabel & tupalev - courtesy of HogTownHarry. Hazy reddish-gold with a wispy head. Aroma of sweet malt, sour fruit, spice and pineapple. Medium bodied. Flavour has some nice woody notes and a bit of smoke alongside the pleasant maltiness, some fruit in the finish. Not bad, but like the others at the table, I felt like there was something missing.

On tap at Publick House in Boston. Pours dark amber with minimal light tan head. Aroma of caramel, brown sugar, and whisky. Really nice taste. The flavor has real complexity, with notes of chocolate and dark fruits in addition to the caramel and whisky. The whisky is present throughout, but adds to, rather than dominates the flavor. Warming alcohol on the finish. Excellent offering.

On tap. Very interesting stuff, seemed more like a sour than a scotch. Poured a hazy amber color with a moderate off-white head. Aroma of caramel, light brown sugar, funk, brett, and light oak. Flavor consists of some caramel malt that leads into a lightly hoppy, funky barnyard yeast that is a bit tart, and finishes with some oak. Full on the palate with some oak bite on the finish. Very nice and definitely interesting.

Bottle (750ml) shared with HogTownHarry, GregClow, jerc, mabel & tupalev -- courtesy of HogTownHarry. Bottle 690, May 2006. Pours a hazy orange-amber with a small diminishing off-white head. Nice lacing. Aroma of caramel malt, some mild sugary sweetness, light hops and notes of wood. Flavour’s malty along with hops, wood, fruit, light alcohol and brown sugar. For 10% alcohol is well hidden. Medium bodied, well carbonated. Pretty good.

Bottle. Very nice, but not as a classic Scotch ale. Medium amber body below a frothy, off-white head. Sweet, malty aroma of caramel, toasted grain and notes of oak, apple and cherry. Hint of musty yeast. The flavor is heavily sweet and lightly bitter. Medium to full body with a velvety texture and soft carbonation. The alcohol shows up in the finish.

750ml bottle: Murky bronze pour with a smallish white cap. Jungle fruits meet the nose with extra notes of burnt caramel and light oak. Thick, creamy mouthfeel. The body displays a more rounded caramel profile with a nice drying oak and bourbon finish. Very good.